CAMPAIGNERS look set to lose their legal battle to save Nantwich Sauna after a council officer investigating the complaints labelled them "ridiculous."

Regular users were upset at proposals to shut the facility and replace it with a fitness centre, forcing them to use a refurbished sauna at Crewe Swimming Pool.

The enthusiasts alleged "gross maladministration and injustice" in a solicitor's letter to the council threatening legal action over the decision to close the facility.

But Riddell Graham, head of Legal and Property Services and acting as monitoring officer, poured scorn on the group's allegations.

In a letter to their solicitor, he said there was nothing wrong with the way the decision was reached.

"What is wrong, so far as your clients are concerned, is that it is a decision which they do not like," he said.

"I have taken the time and trouble to deal with each point in your letter, I find it repetitive and entirely unconvincing.

"You are using a 'scatter-gun approach,' throwing in facts which have no relevance to the decision you are complaining about or the way it was reached."

Mr Graham said the group had argued with a critical 1997 report on the sauna by quoting a publicity leaflet for the centre.

"Quite frankly this is laughable. It shows that your clients are grasping at straws," he said.

"How can you compare a publicity leaflet issued to attract customers to a report prepared for a committee which is considering the future of the facility?"

The solicitor's letter also compared the report to one made in 1998 claiming the original was misleading in its description of the sauna suite at the Crewe pool.

"The '98 report said it was 'in need of refurbishment and requires modernisation.' The '97 report said it was 'in need of refurbishment and modernisation,'" he said.

"This difference is pretty marginal and to describe the information as 'clearly misleading and a gross maladministration and injustice' is simply ridiculous."

Nantwich Sauna, which was due to close last Tuesday, remains temporarily open to the public while potential developers Power Sport consider their investment.

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